Why and how do organizations create user-led open source consortia? A systematic literature review

User-led open source (OS) consortia (foundations) consist of organizations from industries beyond the software industry collaborating to create open-source software solutions for their internal processes. Initially pioneered by higher education organizations in the 2000s, this concept has gained traction in recent years across various industries. This study has two research objectives. The first objective is to provide an overview of the current state of the art in this field by identifying previously studied topics and gathering examples from different industries. The second objective is to understand the structure of user-led OS consortia and the motivations of organizations for participating in such consortia. To gain a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, we conducted a systematic literature review, covering the years 2000 to 2023. Furthermore, we performed thematic analysis on 43 selected studies to identify and examine the key characteristics, ecosystems, and the benefits organizations gain from involvement in user-led OS consortia. We identified 43 unique papers on user-led OS consortia and provided details on 14 sample user-led OS consortia projects. We defined 19 characteristics of user-led OS consortia and 16 benefits for organizations’ involvement. Additionally, we outlined the key actors and their roles in user-led OS consortia. We provided an overview of the current state of the art in this field. We identified the structure of user-led OS consortia and the organizations’ motivations for participating in such consortia.